Apparatus for cooling air



May 31, 1932. i H. P. GANT 1,360,357

APPARATUS FOR COOLING AIR Filed Aug. 8, 1928 ATTORNEYv Patentedv May s1, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT l'ori-lcs HARRIS PAUL GANT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, TO CARRIER RESEARCH CORPORATION,` 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A

y CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY APPARATUS ron cooLINe A1B The present invention relates to air cooling apparatus and more particularly to' a complete self-contained vunit for maintaining the temperature of a room at a predetermined low point.

1 Air cooling apparatus as heretofore elnployed commercially has consisted of coils suspended from the .ceiling or hung upon the walls of ,a room and through which the brine or other refrigerating medium is caused to circulate while the air in the' room has a natural circulation about the coils.` Cooling coils of this type are generally known in the trade as"bunker coils and in the absence of other cooling means vto more nearly fulfill the needs and requirements have been accepted and used to a considerable extent.-

While thisbunker type of coil has a relatively wide use, it is only acceptable by the users beca-use nothing better can be had and the purchasers have had to put up with inefiiciency, high first cost, excessive operating expense, poor sanitation, melting frost, labor losses and loss of temperature due to necessity of defrosting.

Some of the objects of the present invention are to provide an-improved air cooling. method and apparatus; to provide an apparatus in the form of a self-contained unit for cooling the air of a room; to provide a simple, practical and economical method for maintaining a, substantially constant lower temperature i'n a room; to provide an air cooling apparatus wherein ithe moisturepcontent of a room is kept relatively high; to provide a cooling apparatus wherein damage due to corrosion is prevented; and to provide other improvements as will hereinafter appear. In the drawings, Fig. 1 represents an elevation of a cooling unit embodying one form ofthe present invention; Fig. 2 represents an end elevation of one form of cooling coil: Fig. 3 represents asection on line of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 represents a detail of the end elevation of the coil structure 11.

Referring to the drawings, one form of the present invention consists generally of a casing 10, a cooling. coil 11 and a fan assembly 12, all assembled and arranged as a selfopen frame is contained unit for passing a column of air under suction through and about the coil 11, reducing the temperature of the air, and inally discharging the cooled air to a room or other place which is to be maintained at a predetermined low temperature.

In the preferred construction, the casing 10 is open at the bottom and is supported in spaced relation to the fioor by a Skeleton base 13 so that air has free access to the bottom of the casing from both sides and both ends of the. base 13. As here shown, the lower por-v tion of the casing 10 forms a chamber 14 for the coil-11 and the upper portion forms a chamber 15 for the fan assembly 12while the top of the casing 10 supports one or more outer elbows-'16 for.v discharging the cooled air from the casing 10. Two such ducts 16 are shown by way of example and each takes care of the discharged air from one fan, though this is a detail which may be varied without departing from the invention.

For circulating the ammonia or other refrigerant for air cooling purposes, the coil 10 preferably consists of two superposed headers17 and 18 interconnected by side frame bars 20 whereby a substantially rectangular formed with the headers 17 and 18 as top and bottom members. per header- '17 is provided with anainlet pipe 21 which is connected to the supply of liquid refrigerant, while the lower header 18 likewise has an outlet pipe 22 for the return to the system. `The iow of the liquid refrigerating medium from one header to the other headerl takes place through a plurality'of pipe coils, one end of each communicating with the same header and being Welded thereand the other end of each communicating with and being welded to the other headel.

coils are arranged in two series 23 and 24,

each consisting o f a plurality of sets of pipe convolutions with the pipes of one set all lying in the same vertical plane while the sets of pipes themselves for-m transverse rows 1n parallel planes. ment of the two series there is a staggered relation considered horizontally but the two series overlap one another. In other words,

The up- A no I For most eiiicient operation, the pipe As to the relative arrangethe convolutions of jone series start as a row of pipes lentering the upper head 1 7 ln'the same horizontal plane and then contmue 1n a plurality of reverse lbends with interconnect.- ing inclined lengths to terminate as a row-of pi es entering the lower header`18. The convo'utions of the other series start :from the upper header 17 as a row which is parallel to the row of theother series'but having the pipes respectivelyvertically staggered, and

then continue with the same reverse bend configuration to terminate in the lower head 18 in a row which is parallclto the row of the first series but having thepipes also 'respectively vertically staggered. lThis arrangement of the two series of pipes results in a coil unit in which the pipes are in relatively close proximitysince one series of coils has its pipes respectively opposite to the space of the other series of coils and hence the travelling air follows a tortuous path through passages which are so restricted in dimension as to cause the air to frictionally contact with the pipe surfaces.

The fan assembly 12 serves tovinduce the desired high air velocity about the coil 11 and consists of one or more fans 25 mounted to rotate with a shaft 26 journaled transversely loi. the chamber and driven, in the present instance,` by an' exteriorly located electric motor 27 supported in any suitable manner such, for example, as a bracket 28. The fan speed is such as to create a movement of air through the coils which will be reduced in temperature and expelled in the room to be maintained at a low temperature While the y'felocity of the air traversing the restricted passages retards the collection of frost, which if it were noty for the present novel construction would soon collect'in quantity and clog the air passages entirely.`

If desired', :the'base 13 can be associated with a drip pan to collect Water dripping from the coils and which canbe discharged from the'pan by suitable connectionsto a drain; p i i v e To prevent corrosion, the pipe coils 11 and casing 10 are preferably galvanized and the latter `is also coatedinternally with a comp ound to resist the' action .of moisture laden The foregoing describes one yform of aparatus for carrying out the method emodied in the present. invention and Which consists broadly of causing a medium to be cooledsuch as air, to pass at a relatively high velocity through the restricted passages of a coil in which a refrigerating medium 1s being circulated. Applicant is'aware that attempts have heretofore been made to construct an air cooling coil having pipes arranged in such c close proximity as vto form a narrowpassage or passages for the air to traverse but such attempts. have resulted in failurebecause of frostl collecting so rapidly as to completely obstruct theassages,l thereby .preventing the The` present .invention has parallel slightly spaced series of convolutions arranged in alternate staggered relation, and means insaid casing for impelling air.there through between and; through said coils at ahigh velocity.

' 2. An air cooling apparatus comprising a casing having anair inlet and an air outlet, means for passing a current of air through said casing from inlet to outlet, a frame supported internally of the casing on a wall thereof between saidinlet and outlet, headerscarried by said frame at opposite ends thereof, and a refrigerating coil structure in the casing between said headers and connecting thereto,' said headers having refrigeration system connections extending through the adjacent casing vvall.` Y,

Signed at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, this 30th day of July, 1928.

HARRIS PAUL GANT. 

